If your kids are like mine, then they have those few toys that will always keep them busy. And at the end of the day, as the electric barking dogs and battery-operated cars come and go, they can pull out those favorites and sit for hours, completely entertained.

My children have always been LEGO fans, with my oldest (almost eight) completely enthralled by this new book I received at the recent Dad 2.0 Summit that inspired a 3D mosaic that she gifted to her new baby cousin. My five-year old son creates his own versions of Transformers that he battles over breakfast.

But when it comes to their all-time favorite, the TEGU magnetic blocks are their top choice time and time again.

I purchased my first set a couple of years ago after we featured them on Cool Mom Picks with a gift card I received to one of my favorite family-run toy stores and since then, I’ve collected a couple more sets thanks to over abundance of daily deals sites, including their new mobility line that turns the blocks into cars, trains, and other vehicles.

Similar in cost to heirloom building blocks, the TEGU blocks are not cheap toys, but aside from their wonderful mission, which includes using sustainably-harvested tropical hardwoods and planting more trees than they use to create the blocks, I cannot tell you how much my children play with them. So that is why I’m going to show you.

We opted for the brightly colored blocks, that come in various shapes, all of which are magnetic. This makes for easy building, especially for kids with small hands, and easy clean up.

My son started playing with them when he couldn’t quite figure out how to transform the Transformer toys on his own. So he created his own robot army.

My daughter loves them as well. Here’s her version of Rapunzel. Pretty cool, huh?

Recently, my son has started creating actual Transformers, like this airplane.

A few quick changes…

And magic! It’s a robot!

I’m still amazed at how much my kids play with these blocks, so much so that I’ve put away many of the other toys that just seem to be collecting dust. The other bonus when it comes to TEGU blocks: They don’t kill your feet when you accidentally step on them.

What are your kids’ all-time favorite toys?

Kristen Chase is a mom of 4, writer, and co-publisher of Cool Mom Picks and Cool Mom Tech, a popular shopping and trendspotting blog for moms, as well as 4 Kids or More, an online resource for the modern larger family. She’s a 2nd generation homeschooler, having been taught middle and high school by her own mother back when people were still using quills and ink wells, and is now a very well-adjusted and socialized homeschool mom herself.

25 Comments and 5 Replies

Morgan On Wednesday, April 25 at 5:55 am

Morgan, I’d join some of the daily deal sites — like Gilt Kids, Fab.com (you can check my site coolmompicks.com if you need an invite). They are free to join and then they’ll send you emails daily with the deals.

That’s how I found them. It doesn’t happen on a weekly basis or anything, but I’ve scored a few sets over the year that way.

2

the Inspired Pencil On Wednesday, April 25 at 6:43 am

Wow! I love those. I wish my kids were younger:) Thanks for the cool review.

I have never seen magnetic blocks and can I just say, GENIUS!! The possibilities are endless.

Thanks for sharing.

4

carole On Wednesday, April 25 at 7:23 am

The one toy that my kids, 11 and 14, still return to is our cardboard building blocks! They’ve been used most recently to build Angry Bird levels that they throw my daughters old stuffed animals at to knock over.

Oh Carole – My kids love those too. Our music school had them in the waiting room, so we bought some for our kids and they love them!

Michelle On Wednesday, April 25 at 2:16 pm

We still have a box full of cardboard building blocks also and my kids are 12 and 15! These have been the toy that has been used the most and the longest and they were hand-me-downs from cousins when we got them. They are still in pretty good shape too!

5

Susan On Wednesday, April 25 at 7:46 am

My daughter loves the colored rice I made her. She is 2.5 but we’ve had it since fall and she’ll play with it everyday for extended periods of time. I think we’ll have to get these blocks though.

6

Lara Riley On Wednesday, April 25 at 7:46 am

When my boys were little, they would play for hours with our wooden Thomas the Tank Engine trains & track. Like the blocks, they’re pricier, but I consider them heirlom toys. These may get packed away for years, but they’ll be brought out again when the grandchildren start rolling in!

Wow! I rarely want to spend money on toys for my kids. They have so much and play with their toys so little (why are non toys so much more fun?). However, I immediately went to the tegu website and have fallen in love! Thanks for sharing… now to start saving

I know, Julie! Keep your eye on sites like Gilt Kids or Fab.com – daily deal sites. That’s how we scored our sets for up to 50% off.

Also, Grandma.

8

jp On Wednesday, April 25 at 8:23 am

Haven’t seen these before, but I’m a definite fan of … well, let’s just call them ‘classic’ toys that encourage creativity and provide multiple levels of play… anyway, tell me about the magnets…. how are they connected to the blocks and is there an issue w/them coming out? No young ones in the house anymore, but maybe I’ll invest in some for me – and of course, visiting kids?!

Tiffany W. On Wednesday, April 25 at 9:52 am

Our youngest didn’t (and still doesn’t) play with many toys. He loves his 2 stuffed care bears and stuffed elf though. They go on so many adventures and even are his toy of choice for vacations.

12

MK WILSON On Wednesday, April 25 at 10:36 am

My son’s favorite toy was a castle with horses, knights and a king! He would play for hours. I now keep great memories of those days by letting my grandchildren play with the castle!

13

regina m On Wednesday, April 25 at 11:59 am

Blocks of all kinds.
Magnet wands with assorted metal things.
Large sheets of drawing paper with assorted crayons and markers.assorted dolls ( male and female ones and at least one that is of another culture.

14

Shelly On Wednesday, April 25 at 1:39 pm

My kids are a little older at 10, 10, 11, 13, and 14 but I’d say that the most loved toys for the longest amount of time have been the Legos. We started out with hubbby’s old stash when his mom cleaned out her attic. It has grown over the last 5 or 6 years and has taken over an entire room. I gave up our old schoolroom (because we usually did school in the kitchen and family room anyways) and turned it into a dedicated Lego room. We recently moved into a larger home and now the Lego room gets a whole side of the basement! My kids are thrilled with this arrangement. They play with them daily and they always get to leave their creations and cities intact.
I’m sure some of the fascination has to do with the fact that my engineering hubby still plays with them too. there was a time I tried to ‘cull’ the collection by ‘accidentally’ vacuuming up the stray Legos. It didn’t work. Hubby and kiddos took an inventory and ordered the missing pieces. I’ve learned to just go with the Lego flow now. LOL!

15

s On Wednesday, April 25 at 2:19 pm

thomas the train tracks and trains – we built our collection slowly and it lasted through all of the kids, but especially loved by my youngest. we never invested in the table – we had more fun running tracks under chairs, the piano bench, and all over the room we brought them to.

matchbox cars/hotwheels as well as the plastic (yes, I know, plastic) track pieces that they can build themselves. They have a couple sets that they can join together with the track pieces to extend but I have to admit they much prefer to make a track down the stairs and line the bottom of the hallway with pillows and send their cars racing down the stair track the best of all. these cars have gone to more basketball, softball and baseball games than I can count – fun on bleachers, in the dirt, in the sand – you name it!

magnatiles – recent purchase and although not an instant hit at Christmas, this is probably the most used toy so far since then. All of my kids, all different ages, enjoy building with these. Pricey, but WELL worth the price. I look forward to adding to the collection. I do wish I’d seen the blocks before but I am still really happy with this toy – its useability is well worth the investment. My boys build all kinds of towers and little “cities”.

ibuild tracks and cars – this is plastic, but the boys have the best time snapping the tracks together and watching the battery operated cars zip around their track creations.

old sheets and all the chairs, small tables, and pillows they can gather – all of my kids LOVE to make forts. They will drag in their stuffed animals, flashlights, books, whatever they can find.

melissa and doug play food set – with my youngest, we had already ditched the plastic kitchenset and I was not going to get another one, so instead I purchased a wooden pot and pan set that came with a few assorted pieces of wooden velcro veggies, fruits, bread, and a wooden knife and spatula. This set has gone all over our house, in the forts, in bedrooms, on top of a stepstool as part of a restaraunt. So versatile! They have cooked up gourmet “meals”, stuffed animal food, you name it.

swing set – each one of our kids have spent hours and hours and hours on our swingset – we actually received a “new to us’ one from a friend after we outgrew and outused our old one. I had regretted skimping on the first one we bought – if I had thought about the long term use and the growth of our family, I would have bought a larger and sturdier set the first time around. Any upfront expenditure will be WELL worth it in the end – happy kids, happy friends, and happy mom outside with a book or gardening is priceless – I wish I’d known that at the start and lobbied for the nicer one to start, but it all turned out fine as a family friend outgrew theirs and it has a new home with us. Get one large enough for at least 3 swings and a set of rings to allow peaceful use between siblings and neighborhood kids or friends.

Wow….magnetic!!!! This Ozark Farm Chick thinks this is the best idea since sliced bread!!! These are toys that can be handed down through generations. :o)

I have to tell ya I kept all of Geek Son’s and Social Butterfly’s Fisher Price toys. After all the presents are opened by the eight grandkiddos, the head for my toy closet and pull out the Sesame Street Clubhouse, the Fisher Price doll house and play with the old toys. Cracks me up ever year!!!

From the thrilled hills and hollers of the sunny Missouri Ponderosa, ya’ll have yourselves an awesomely blessed day now, ya hear!!! :o)

My son? LEGOS!!! He started his “collection” 6 years ago (he’s 11 now). He never, ever tires of playing with them. He’s become a master at picking them up – not easy to do. There are some really cool books with ideas of what kids can make from Legos. He always submits a new creation for our county fair and usually gets a blue ribbon. I love the imagination and focus he puts into those toys!

My daughter? Horse toys. We have an enormous herd of toy horses of every sort. She is 12 and has been collecting horse toys since she was FOUR, but she still love playing with them. Perhaps because she’s homeschooled she’s not embarrassed to play with them. She creates the most amazing horse scenes throughout the house. I’ve taken pictures of some. I should post some on my blog. Most of her public school friends are in middle school and have lost interest in anything that’s not got to do with makeup, boys or the latest gadget.

Schleich. That about sums it up. The long standing favorites are the knights, but they like the farm series and fairy/Bayala series as well. I thrown away/donated just about every other toy that has come through the house after a few short months, but the knights just keep on getting played with. As a sidenote, we don’t have the Schleich castle, we have the Imaginext castle, and it is sturdy and works fine as a fill-in if you don’t want to spend $$$$ for the Schleich castle.

Oh yeah, how could I forget light sabers. My son has more than his fair share.

20

CC On Wednesday, April 25 at 3:26 pm

My son loved dinosaurs…..he had a huge tube filled up with dinosaurs. He would play with them for hours…He’s 12 now and the dinosaurs have been packed away for years. I will keep them forever……My daughter didn’t really have a favorite like my son.

21

Sarah O. On Wednesday, April 25 at 3:46 pm

I don’t have kids, but I was one myself not so long ago and I would have had a blast with these. My favorites as a child included but were not limited to Lincoln Logs, Play Dough, and the rare-but-treasured Giant Cardboard Box. But I must say, if you are going to go for the pricier toys for your daughter, you can’t really go wrong with Barbies. I played with my Barbies daily when I was little. We went on all sorts of adventures together, from pirate ship to mountain climbing to rescuing Ken from a fire-breathing dragon. Well worth my sainted mother’s money. :]

He just saved-up for and ordered Thames & Kosmos Remote Control Machines. It looks very promising. The set allows you to build your own motorized machines.

24

Erica On Monday, April 30 at 11:24 pm

These are great! I saw these at a kids toy store near our home and thought they were pretty awesome and pricey! However, Santa did manage to score an awesome deal on some Magna – Tiles and our boys LOVE them! They go back to them time and time again. There is never a shortage of rockets or fortresses around here!

25

JCF On Tuesday, May 1 at 3:42 pm

Oh, we LOVE our Tegu blocks. We are lucky to have a friend who works for Tegu, and he has generously given our kids several sets. I’d like to score a few more from Fab.com, like you mentioned, as all 3 kids like to play together, and we can never have enough pieces to satisfy their desire to create!

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